How to Lazzzor or "Why you won't use scissors anymore."

this is a very very early draft for a yet-to-come howto lazzor page. the main source of information was the lazzzor workshop held on 2011-01-27. feel free to add/edit information, suggestions or similar. you can do so in english or german. also: it doesn't need to be perfect, but the information supplied should be correct or if not, labeled accordingly

so, you want to use the mighty fine lazzzor yesyes?
then you will have to complete several trials to step up to the throne of being a lazzzor king or queen.

basically, you have 2 options:

cutting: for this you need a vector graphic,

engraving: for this you need a rasterized image

you can also do both! if you put a rasterized object inside a vector graphic. alternatively you can create a separate file for each job.

prepare your image

get your favorite vector/raster drawing program and draw some stuff you want to have cut or engraved. depending on what you want to do, your image file is qualified for print if the following things apply.

cutting / vector format:

deactivate filling on all objects

set the stroke width on all objects to 0

export your image in *.eps format [.. other recommended formats] we strongly encourage you NOT to use dxf formats. they are prone to errors when imported into corel draw.

during exporting/saving, look for an option which says "Make a bounding box around full page" or similar and DEactivate it.

engraving / raster format:

convert your image file to grayscale

play around with the Level option to get the highest contrast possible

you can set the DPI for your graphic up to 1200 (max. setting the lazzzor supports)

no background color (means: transparent background)

software recommendations: ...

the printer dialog

(screen caps?)

main tab

Laser

Power, how much power to put into each lazzzor shot. for cutting, you want to use as little power as possible

Speed, how fast the lazzzor moves.

Frequency, how many times a lazzzor shot happens. this depends greatly on the material used.

These 3 parameters kinda intervene with each other. E.g. if you lower the Speed, you wont need as much Power and/or Frequency.. see theoretical experiments for further help. (insert link!)

Job

Raster: for engraving

Vector: for cutting

Combined: for doing both! Engraving always comes first.

Rasterisation

basic: makes it look good, most of the time you'll want to use this.

3D: good for making stuff like holes for screws.

stamp: yeah, that's for stamps, there are also 2 additional parameters for this one. (todo: indepth howto for stamps)

misc

Auto focus: important for making nice cuts, you also can do that manually (todo)

Frequency Automatic: not tested yet! but it obviously states what it does, yes?

Vector Sorting: algorithm which should calculate a good way to cut stuff. you probably should use a good image instead of relying on this, but most of the time it shouldn't cause any problems.

user settings

here you can load and save settings created by other users.

warning! this doesn't mean they are automagically the best choice for your job! in some cases, quite the opposite is the case and you might
end up damaging your material or the lazzzor. Still, in combination with the Cheat sheet included in the manual, you can figure out if there are some reasonable settings too.

color mapping

Depending on the colors you gave your vectors, you can set individual Power, Speed and Frequency settings for each color! Might come in handy, but most of the time you won't need it.

the materials

if you want to cut or engrave something, bring your own material, though you can also use any leftovers or stuff which does not have a label on it. (of course labels which say "free for all" are ok, too). feel free to donate a little extra if you use some materials. (price, costs, material category?)

allowed

cutting / engraving:

anything made out of wood

acrylic

polypropylene

polystyrol (low power&speed!)

fabric (hm what about polyester?)

...

very very thin metals (foil or curcuit board made out of Messing) (--> indepth howto at example page?)

engraving:

glass

...

forbidden

anything which got Chlorine (Chlor) or Nitrogen (Stickstoff) in it. bad stuff will happen if it combusts.
some examples:

PVC

PC

Polyurethan (found in sponges for cleaning dishes)

ABS

other potential dangerous stuffs:

BoPET Foil: as used in rescure blankets. has the ability to reflect big part of the IR spectrum. omg.

to the lazzzor!

you have sent your job to the lazzzor and chosen your material of choice,
now off you go my friend, you are a big boy/girl now, but still,
there are some buttons you have to get familiar with first.
(pwetty pictures!)